INDIANAPOLIS – He didn’t want to leave. Not sure how much that matters today, given that Chris Holtmann has in fact left Butler for Ohio State, but it needs to be said and it needs to be said right away, before time passes and we get used to seeing Holtmann in all that scarlet and gray – or worse, we get used to not seeing him much at all anymore – and he becomes just another guy who worked for Butler and left and didn’t want to go and blah blah blah.

You’ve heard it before, right Butler fans? Todd Lickliter wasn’t looking to leave in 2007, but Butler was still in the Horizon League and Iowa threw all that money at him and so he left for the Big Ten.

Brad Stevens didn’t even consider leaving, might not have ever left if he were the normal genius college coach, but Stevens is something beyond that and so the world’s biggest basketball brand – the Boston Celtics – came after him and, well, what do you do? You leave Butler for Boston.

Yes, you’ve heard it before around here. The irony is, you didn’t hear it from two other people at the center of this whole story. You didn’t hear how hard it was to leave Butler from the man Holtmann is replacing at Ohio State, Thad Matta, who took the Butler job in 2000 and was so in love with the place that he stayed one whole year before leaving for Xavier in 2001. Matta was a climber – nothing wrong with that – and he didn’t stay at Xavier very long, either, before bolting for Ohio State in 2004.

Ironically, you also didn’t hear it in 2000 from Barry Collier, the Butler athletic director now, the guy who has made one remarkable hire after another. Back when he was coaching the Butler basketball team, Barry Collier wasn’t a climber. He was a survivor.

Collier was also a Butler grad, so when the coaching job opened in 1989 and he was an assistant at Stanford, he applied for it. Butler didn’t come to him; he went to Butler. Times were different then, for college basketball but especially for Butler, and Collier mailed then-Butler President Geoffrey Bannister an outline that went on and on, 45 pages in all, a master plan to turn Butler into a winner. It worked, he got the job, but after six years he was 87-85 and he wasn’t looking to leave; he was looking to survive.

Collier survived and then some, of course, going 109-47 over the next five years and leading Butler to three NCAA tournament appearances in his final four years and then leaving for … Nebraska? A coach who is determined to stay at Butler, especially if he’s a Butler alum, doesn’t leave for Nebraska.

Holtmann didn’t want to leave. He had so many chances, so many great chances. Four big-time schools have come after him – Georgia Tech and Tennessee in recent years, Missouri and North Carolina State in recent months – and talks got serious with all but Tennessee. Offers that would have doubled Holtmann’s salary were made, and rejected. He wanted to stay.

He had his sandwich shop near campus where they knew him, had his grilled chicken salad ready, brought it to the table where he always sat. He had his wife and little girl who loved it in Indianapolis, loved it at Butler. That mattered to him.

He had an athletic director (Collier) and a president (James Danko) who reached out to him, not vice versa, after great seasons to offer him more money, more years, more security. That mattered to Holtmann.

Holtmann cares about that kid, cares about all his players of course, but Joey’s the one who lost his father less than two months ago. Holtmann couldn’t even imagine leaving Joey.

Listen: A lot of what you’re reading here about Holtmann, this isn’t me guessing. He and I have talked about Joey Brunk. We’ve talked for years about Holtmann's career trajectory, about his family, about his pursuers.

When Georgia Tech offered him its job after the 2015-16 season – to replace Brian Gregory, who had been in Atlanta since leaving Dayton in 2011, when he was replaced there by current IU coach Archie Miller of all people – Holtmann called me for advice. No, really. Lord knows he talked to a lot more people than the local sports writer, and surely valued their input more than mine, but he wanted a relative basketball outsider’s opinion on what he had at Butler, what he would be rejecting at Georgia Tech.

Holtmann wanted to stay in 2016, but the Yellow Jackets were offering a lot more money and all those resources and he wanted to know: Am I crazy for wanting to stay? And of course I told him: No, you’re not crazy. And also I told him: You’re going to be pursued by better jobs than that one.

New Athletic Director Barry Collier gets a greeting from Butler Blue II, an English Bulldog, and the mascot for Butler. Barry Collier, the former Nebraska men's head basketball coach, was announced today, Tuesday, August 1, 2006 as the new Butler University Athletic Director in Indianapolis, IN. Collier coached basketball at Butler from 1989-2000 with a 196-132 record. Sam Riche, Indianapolis Star

Barry Collier, athletic director at Butler University. talks with the media Wed. July 3, 2013 about Head Basketball Coach, Brad Stevens leaving the university to become the Head Coach for the Boston Celtics. Greg Griffo / The Star

3/16/01. Butler Basketball coach Thad Matta watches an Arizona dunk against Eastern Illinois University from press row as he scouts his team's next opponent. The Arizona Wildcats won 101-76 to set up a meeting with Butler. ROBERT SCHEER, INDIANAPOLIS STAR

Butler University men's basketball coach Todd Lickliter directs his players in stretching exercises during practice Thursday Nov. 20, 2003 in Indianapolis, Ind. Despite the the loss of six seniors from last years squad, the Bulldogs have set a goal to compete for the national championship. AJ MAST, AP

Butler University head basketball coach Todd Lickliter (cq) talks to his team in the huddle during a time out in first half action at Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University Saturday January 6. The Butler Bulldogs defeated the Wright State Raiders 73-42 in Horizon League action. Joe Vitti, Indianapolis Star

Former Butler Bulldogs now Boston Celtics head basketball coach Brad Stevens delivers the eulogy during a memorial for the late Andrew Smith held at Traders Point Christian Church in Whitestown on Jan. 17, 2015. Smith, a former Butler center who played in two Final Fours, died Tuesday at age 25 after a two-year battle with cancer. Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

Butler University Head Basketball Coach Brad Stevens, second from left, points to Butler player-turned pro Gordon Hayward, now with the Utah Jazz during an interview with play-by-play announcer Anthony Calhoun, left, and color analyst Ralph Reiff, right, following Butler's 57-42 win over Savannah State in a Hoosier Invitational game at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Monday, November 21, 2011. Hayward, who is awaiting the end of the NBA lockout, worked the game as a guest analyst for WNDY-23's televised broadcast of the game. Charlie Nye, Indianapolis Star

Butler University head coach Brad Stevens answers questions from the media during a press conference held before practice at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Butler will take on Bucknell in tomorrow's NCAA tournament. Matt Detrich / The Star

Butler basketball player Gordon Hayward made his NBA plans official Friday, May 7, 2010 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN, announcing that he's staying in the NBA draft. Joining Hayward at the announcement was Butler head coach Brad Stevens. Sam Riche

Butler's head coach Brad Stevens questions a call in the second half of their game.The Bulldogs defeated the Hoosiers 88-86 in overtime of their 2012 Crossroads Classic game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Matt Kryger, Indianapolis Star

Knight came out before he was introduced and joined Stevens at the podium. Former Indiana University basektball coach Bob Knight spoke at Clowes Hall on the Butler campus Wednesday September 14, 2011. He was introduced by Butler head basketball coach Brad Stevens, left. Rob Goebel

Butler Bulldogs head coach Brad Stevens listens to player Matt Howard as he answers questions on Sunday, April 3, 2011 while addressing the media about their preparation for the NCAA Men's Championship Game against the Connecticut Huskies at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on Monday, April 4, 2011. Matt Detrich

Butler's head coach Brad Stevens calls out a play in the first half of their game.The Bulldogs defeated the Hoosiers 88-86 in overtime of their 2012 Crossroads Classic game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Matt Kryger, Indianapolis Star

Butler Bulldogs guard Shelvin Mack talks with Butler Bulldogs head coach Brad Stevens during a fould shot in the first half during the NCAA Men's Final Four at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on Saturday, April 2, 2011. The Bulldogs won 70-62 over VCU. matt detrich

Roosevelt Jones is hugged as he comes off the court by Head Coach Chris Holtmann, Marquette at Butler, men's basketball from Hinkle Fieldhouse, Saturday, March 5, 2016. Butler won 95-74. Robert Scheer/IndyStar

And he didn’t. Missouri came after him. North Carolina State came after him. It was after Holtmann said no to those two schools that we were talking about those decisions, and I remember exactly where I was: Driving on I-70, heading east from Indianapolis for a story in New Castle, when Holtmann said something that scared me to death:

“But there are some jobs you have to take,” he said, and he mentioned one by name:

Ohio State.

He wasn’t rooting in late March against Matta, who wasn’t fired until this week. He was just telling me that there were jobs, and not all that many jobs, where a coach has the resources and the support to win and to win the right way. “You don’t have to cheat,” Holtmann has said many times, knowing that’s a line he would never cross, or even get close enough to see it. The jobs you can’t turn down, he was saying, are among the best two jobs in their conference. There are six major conferences. You can do the math.

But your math would be wrong. Holtmann has said to me, repeatedly over the years and again Thursday night, that there are “no more than five jobs in college basketball” that he’d even consider leaving Butler to take. But Ohio State, I’ve known since March, was one.

When Matta was fired a few days ago, I texted Holtmann, teasingly but seriously: If you leave me for this, I would understand.

He didn’t want to leave. The search firm representing Ohio State came after Holtmann earlier this week, and he said no. So Ohio State went after Creighton’s Greg McDermott. When McDermott said no, Ohio State came back to Holtmann. They were offering six years. He said no.

Ohio State offered seven years.

No.

Ohio State offered eight years.

“That created some pause,” Holtmann was telling me Thursday night.

See, Holtmann wanted to stay at Butler. But he couldn’t turn down Ohio State. If he slept well on Thursday night, I’d be stunned.